


Date Night

by Paycheckgurl



Series: Torchwood Bingo 2020 Fics [3]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dancing, Date Night, Dinner, Jack has terrible table manners, Love Confession, M/M, Torchwood Bingo Fest, torchwood bingo 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26216497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paycheckgurl/pseuds/Paycheckgurl
Summary: Jack takes Ianto out for date night. Ianto tries to hide some feelings.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Series: Torchwood Bingo 2020 Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897720
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57
Collections: Torchwood Fan Fests: Bingo Fest 2020





	Date Night

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to ILikeStopWatches for the beta.

Gwen had shooed Ianto out of the Hub. In fact Ianto was positive he’d been  _ shoved _ straight up to the tourist centre. 

They’d been overworked, Ianto, Gwen and Jack, and it was about time they tried to find some extra help. Ianto and Gwen had been living in the Hub even more than Jack did (although Ianto would concede the point he had an ulterior motive to the late nights).

But this week, this sole week, the rift had been mercifully quiet. Mercifully given them not a vacation, but a bit of a break to catch up on the things they’d been neglecting. Home keeping, Rhys, and the reason why Ianto was being physically escorted from the Hub: Date Night. 

Ianto, a veteran of ulterior motives, knew full well that Gwen had one. Rhys was absolutely going to keep her company as she caught up on the paperwork, and passively monitored the rift - something explicitly not allowed under Jack’s orders. Ianto was also a veteran of secret keeping, however, and was not about to tattle on his friend. Especially not when her ulterior motive was benefitting him as well. So he let Gwen be way too enthusiastic about getting Ianto to his date, friendly shoving and all. 

Despite himself, once up to the tourist centre, Ianto gave himself the once over, smushed down his hair some, and adjusted his suit. It seemed ridiculous really. Jack would not care if Ianto showed up in a grubby t-shirt and jeans. He’d question it, given Ianto’s usual self imposed uniform, but he simply would not care. If he did care, it would be a comment about getting those jeans off. 

Jack was waiting for him outside with the SUV. They really shouldn’t use it for frivolous reasons like this, but one of the benefits of being 'outside the government and beyond the police' was that no one was about to call them out on it. Jack looked like himself, wearing his own self imposed uniform, a uniform that Ianto quite frankly lov — errr liked very much and was very fond of. However, underneath The Coat, and in addition to that full set of suspenders, was a waistcoat. And the whole thing was just a tad sharper than usual. Jack was going the extra mile then. Interesting. Also Ianto wished he’d been  _ warned  _ as he would have upgraded to a tux. Jack might have been the only person that could make him feel underdressed. 

Jack flashed him one of  _ those  _ smiles, and held the door open, in his usual flirtatious, but gentlemanly way. Ianto threw him a token withering look; he couldn’t simply allow him to completely get away with the overt chivalry without some mild chiding, but he climbed in anyway. Despite the look, Ianto felt his face soften as he looked up at Jack next to him in the driver’s seat. Jack always managed to draw Ianto to him in a way that truly amazed him. And in these moments, these little stolen moments alone, he truly remembered why he love — errr deeply, very much, very, very much cared for this man. 

The L word was dangerous. They were not going to use the L word yet. 

Jack drove with one hand, because he saw road safety laws as a challenge to break as many as possible, and offered his other hand to Ianto. He traced his thumb across Ianto’s hand idly. It was strange how you could know some physically so well, but small types of little intimate moments like this felt unique. It gave him a little bit of a tingle down his spine that was frankly, embarrassing. 

They arrived at their destination, and Ianto, reluctantly, broke the contact. Jack had been frustratingly tight lipped about the itinerary for the night. The only clue was the slight adjustment in Jack’s wardrobe indicating somewhere tonight was going to be, if not fully, then verging on black tie. 

Jack’s restaurant of choice had outdoor dining and a wine list that was a menu in and of itself; there was not a wine on there that wasn’t at least a vintage of five years. 

“What are you thinking?” asked Jack.

“I’m thinking,” Ianto said with a pause, “I don’t actually know enough about wine to make sense of all of this,” he stagewhispered conspiratorially. 

“And here I thought you knew everything, Ianto Jones.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” said Ianto.

Predictably Jack waggled his eyebrows up and down at that. Ianto, who knew him far too well at this point, tactfully ignored it. 

“I  _ do  _ know the basics, thank you very much, just not enough about each of the vintages. I’ve also never…actually done the fancy tasting thing. Don’t go telling everyone or it ruins my mystique.”

Jack chuckled. “Let me order for you. Back in the day I was quite the wine connoisseur. Essential skill in the Torchwood of old when it came to wooing the representatives of Her Majesty to getting more funding.” 

“Back in the day...oh you set me up for that one. Way too easy. Was the 'Her Majesty' in question _Queen_ _ Victoria? _ ” 

“Yeah, yeah, old jokes. And for the record it was. Keep it up and I’m pushing the bill on you.” 

“Ah, yes, the bill. Whatever will I do with my very large, Queen paid salary I do next to nothing with but save up.” 

“Smart arse,” Jack accused. “But I am ordering the wine for you.” 

Jack, despite all appearances, never drank much, usually sticking to water. He  _ did  _ drink. Ianto had grown to know the whiskey cabinet in his office quite well, but he was cautious about it. Ianto wasn’t sure what to do with this information exactly but, like with many things with Jack, he stored it away for later. 

Jack selected a red for Ianto and when it was delivered, taught him how to 'properly taste it'.

“Now hold the glass up to the light like this.” He demonstrated the action. 

Ianto honestly thought it looked a bit ridiculous, but complied. 

“Swish it around and look for any imperfections like a small piece of cork stuck. Now smell, let the aroma sit, and carefully, sip.” 

Ianto sipped. 

“And the final verdict?” 

“It’s...sweeter than I thought it would be,” Ianto observed. “Better than the cheap stuff from Tesco anyway. Dessert wine?” 

“Huh. And here I thought you were claiming not to know something. You’re right - it’s a port,” explained Jack. “Usually a dessert wine, but I prefer the sweet stuff. It’s okay if whiskey’s bitter because you’re meant to down that in one go, but if you’re meant to slip it slowly like a glass of wine...might as well enjoy it. Anyways, only from Portugal, a port, the same way only a true champagne comes from the Champagne region of France. Lovely people, in Champagne. This one time, a wine maid and I...” 

Jack got lost in his story the way he always did. He raised the glass up as he talked and his smile reflected through the glass. 

They held their gazes again. The thing about Jack was the fact he wasn’t just aware he was handsome, he flaunted it blandantly. But while in a lesser man that would make him less attractive, in Jack it only added to his appeal. 

God, Ianto  _ loved  _ this man. 

Crap. 

Okay. So long as it was locked away, here in the safety of his mind, he didn’t ever have to say it aloud. Truthfully he knew it. He knew he loved Jack. Knew he always would love Jack. He just...needed to not speak the words into existence. To mess up this wonderful thing he had while he had it. 

Jack gobbled up the rolls with his usual lack of tack and disgraceful table manners. 

“Tell me, when dining with Victoria’s men, is that what you did to the little tea pastries?”

“Mhmmmmgphrr what do you mean?” The crumbs fell to his coat. 

“Nevermind.” 

Even that didn’t make him less attractive. Didn’t make Ianto love this idiot any less. 

_ Love.  _

He had to stop saying it. Even in his head. 

They held hands as they waited for dinner. They laughed and they joked. Ianto offered more of his dry wit. Jack traced more little circles onto his thumb. 

Dinner came and soon enough dessert was ordered. They shared a lemon tart with one fork, feeding each other the way obnoxious couples always did. Because here, right now, they were  _ that  _ obnoxious couple. 

“Alright, next stop?” 

“Next stop?” 

That was surprising. They’d already had dessert and frankly Ianto was looking forward to the  _ other kind _ of dessert menu. 

But he decided to roll with it. Most of their date nights weren’t like this. They were quiet lie-ins featuring Ianto’s collection of Bond films in the background, occasionally with take away, or if they were feeling extra special, pints of ice cream. If they were feeling extra, extra special they’d spring for one of the more ridiculously chocolate Ben and Jerry’s concoctions.

And that was when they had proper dates. A lot of time “date night” was simply just hunting weevils together. 

They settled up the bill. Despite his joke earlier, Ianto  _ had  _ tried to cover it willingly, and Jack had swooped in and covered it while Ianto was getting his wallet out (bastard). 

They climbed back into the SUV, and drove up to a car park in an area of town Ianto wasn’t overly familiar with. He knew the city well — it was their job to — and he’d always had a bit of a photographic memory. This area had to be quiet then for him to have never been here, less rift activity, generally less attractive for aliens to wall themselves up in a warehouse for a smuggling ring. 

They walked into an old building whose interior looked as if it hadn’t had an update since the blitz. A live band played big band sounds. There weren’t many other people there. There was an elderly couple, a man and a little old lady in the corner, dancing away. A pair of girls in their 20s, who Ianto was pretty sure were on a date of their own, were in period swing fancy dress. 

“What is this place?” 

“Hmmmm a dance hall,” Jack said. 

“You know on the subject of old jokes…” 

Jack cut the comment off.

“I’ve always loved this music. Even before living through the era. Glenn Miller. Big band. Jazz. First time I ever met the Doctor and Rose, we danced to it,” 

Ah there it was. The Doctor. No matter how much Ianto loved Jack he’d always be second. He knew Jack claimed that he came back for him, but when your competition for your time traveling immortal boyfriend was a quasi-immortal time traveling alien, it was hard to take things like that as they were. Easy to second guess your place in it all. 

“It’s something I love a lot, and I don’t get to do this often.”

Something he loved a lot. The music. Not Ianto. He meant the music. 

And well, I wanted to share it with you.” 

Ianto stared at him for a second. 

“I know I’ve told you this before but...I’ve been to a lot of places. Seen a lot of things. Met a lot of amazing people.” 

Ianto found he was frozen. 

“And don’t get me wrong, I miss the good old days sometimes. Miss the sounds, the people. I’ll always have the memories. So many memories.” 

Ianto remained frozen but looked up expectantly. 

“But sometimes...oh sometimes it’s important to share those memories with the people you care about most in the now. Let them share what made them so special in the first place. And make a brand new memory out of it.” 

The music got much slower. 

“Dance with me, Ianto Jones.” 

Jack held Ianto close. Jack's hands on hips, Ianto felt light. He felt lost in the moment. They swayed together, to the slow song, and the music out of time. 

“I love you.”

The words were out of Ianto’s mouth before he could stop them at a half whisper. But then, but then, he realised the band had chosen just that moment to get louder. Just that moment to fill the mostly empty hall with too much noise. 

“What was that?” asked Jack. 

“Nothing,” Ianto retracted quickly. Thankfully, the sound had drowned him out. 

Yeah that was it...thankfully. 

“I’ll tell you later,” Ianto amended. “I  _ promise  _ I’ll tell you later.” 


End file.
